Helmut Oberlander stripped of Canadian citizenship again

Oberlander

Waterloo’s Helmut Oberlander has once more been stripped of his Canadian citizenship by the federal government and is facing possible deportation over his connection to a Nazi killing unit.

The government quietly filed an order in council at Federal Court in Toronto stripping Oberlander of his citizenship.

Now, the only thing that stands between the 88-year-old man and deportation is the possibility of yet another judicial review.

Oberlander has been at the centre of a legal wrangle for years over his involvement with a mobile Nazi death squad.

In 2009, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the federal cabinet must revisit a prior decision to strip Oberlander of his citizenship and consider whether or not he was forced to join the Nazis under duress.

Oberlander and his family have always maintained that he was conscripted into a Nazi death squad — Einsatzkommando 10a, which operated behind the German army’s front line in the eastern occupied territories during the Second World War — under duress.

His family says he wasn’t a Nazi.

No evidence has been presented in court that he personally participated in war crimes. Oberlander always said he served only as a translator in the unit and never participated in any killings.

The retired real estate developer has been fighting attempts to strip him of his citizenship and deport him since 1995.

Oberlander and his wife came to Canada in 1954. He did not disclose his wartime experience when he applied to come to Canada or when he sought citizenship.

Oberlander has long held the attention of the Jewish community, said Bernie Farber, the former chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

“He is the only person ever who we know of is a member of an SS killing unit to actually be in North America,” said Farber.

Shimon Fogel, chief executive of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his organization appreciates the government’s determination in pursuing the case.

“We think it speaks to a fundamental issue of justice,” he said.

Fogel said the fact Oberlander is elderly does not mitigate the need for him to account for his past. Earlier this year, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, put Oberlander on its list of the 10 most wanted Nazi war crimes suspects.

Fogel said the drama surrounding Oberlander serves to bring the Holocaust back into the public’s consciousness.

“Bringing this front and centre again maybe has the pedagogic value of reminding Canadians of this terrible and singular horror.”